Mulan (2020) Review: A Grand Remake Without Warmth

Is Mulan worth watching?

It depends on what you want. Mulan (2020) is a handsome, ambitious reimagining that swaps the animated film’s songs and comedy for sweeping battle spectacle, and the trade pays off visually more than emotionally. Niki Caro’s images are often stunning, and the film deserves credit for trying to be its own thing rather than a copy. The reservation is that its heroine is rendered so solemnly, and its storytelling so stiff, that it is easier to admire than to love.

What is Mulan about?

Mulan follows Hua Mulan (Liu Yifei), the spirited eldest daughter of an honoured but ailing veteran, Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma). When the Emperor (Jet Li) decrees that one man from every family must serve in the Imperial Army against invading Rouran warriors led by Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee), Mulan takes her father’s place, disguising herself as a young man named Hua Jun.

In the army she trains under Commander Tung (Donnie Yen) and must hide her identity while proving herself in combat. The enemy has an unusual ally: Xianniang (Gong Li), a shape-shifting witch who has her own reasons for fighting.

Caro directs this American production, which is in English and runs 115 minutes. The film dispenses with the 1998 version’s musical numbers and its wisecracking dragon sidekick, leaning instead on Chinese legend and the martial-arts tradition. Released during the pandemic, it premiered on Disney+ in many territories rather than in cinemas.

Spectacular to look at

On a big screen, or even a good television, Mulan is gorgeous. Mandy Walker’s photography makes the most of vast landscapes, and the colour design is bold: Mulan’s red armour against pale deserts and grey mountains, the patterned interiors of her family home, the golden light of the Imperial city. Caro stages large battle sequences with clarity, and several action scenes, including a clash in snowbound mountains and cavalry charges across open plains, have a real sense of scale.

The fight choreography borrows openly from wuxia cinema, with gravity-defying leaps and balletic combat. Donnie Yen brings his usual authority to the few moments where he is allowed to move, and the film’s best set pieces have a physical grace that sets it apart from other Disney remakes.

A heroine who never quite breathes

The biggest weakness is Mulan herself. The screenplay introduces the idea that she is born with an unusually powerful chi, an inner energy that makes her an exceptional fighter from childhood. That choice turns her into something closer to a chosen one, which undercuts the story’s most appealing idea: that an ordinary young woman succeeds through ingenuity and determination. Liu Yifei is physically convincing in the action scenes, but the script gives her little humour or vulnerability, and her performance rarely lets the audience inside.

The supporting characters suffer from similar stiffness. Her fellow recruits are sketched in broad strokes, and a potential romance with a soldier named Honghui (Yoson An) barely registers.

Gong Li steals the film

The exception is Gong Li. Xianniang is a new character, and the actor gives her a haunted intensity that makes her the film’s most interesting presence. As a powerful woman rejected by the society she lives in, she reflects Mulan’s own situation, and the scenes between the two carry an ideological tension that the rest of the film only gestures toward. It is a shame the film does not trust this thread more.

Who should watch Mulan?

It suits viewers who enjoy large-scale historical fantasy and martial-arts action, and families with older children who are ready for a more serious version of a familiar story. The violence is stylised and largely bloodless, though battle scenes and peril are more intense than in the animated film. Anyone expecting songs or comic relief should adjust their expectations.

If you are weighing it against other titles:

• Moana, Disney’s 2026 remake, which errs in the opposite direction by copying its original too closely.
• Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, an animated fantasy steeped in East Asian martial-arts traditions.

The verdict

Mulan (2020) is a visually impressive remake that deserves credit for rethinking its source, but its solemn tone and underwritten heroine keep it at arm’s length. It is worth a look for its spectacle and for Gong Li; for warmth and wit, the animated original remains the better choice.

Rating: 3/5